Hidden Hurt
by words-are-my-weakness
Summary: "I don't want to do this anymore" Janet stated...Andy ran up behind her and slammed the door...she didn't think she was coming out alive...
1. Chapter 1

_**This came to me in the middle of the night; it's a bit random, and has no idea where it is going to go…but we'll see….**_

"I don't want to do this anymore" Janet stated.

There it was. The words rang in his ears; hearing them over and over again, only more painfully each time. Andy felt his anger levels rising. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't; not in front of her. She walked towards the door, but he couldn't just let her go, walk away all over again, he said 'he loved her'. He ran up behind her and slammed the door shut just as she opened it. She was frightened instantly. His eyes were wide; she could see the anger in them. His hands shook with rage; she didn't think she was coming out alive.

Andy grabbed hold of Janet's arms and pulled her back into the living room, pushing her to the settee. He stood over her, intimidating her. She leant back away from him, not knowing what was coming next.

He called her every name under the sun; none of which were actually true, but he said it so coldly, so angrily that she started to doubt the person she was. He laughed at her; the way she spoke, the way she dressed. He told her she wasn't good enough; she was a bad parent, a bad wife, a bad lover, a bad police officer, that she was even bad in bed. Again, this wasn't true, but his tone of voice, his manner, caused Janet to believe every word he was saying. He told her to repeat it, to admit it; she did.

As Andy turned away, Janet tried to run for the back door. But he got there before she did. He grabbed a handful of hair and dragged her back to the sitting room. He held her by the throat up against the wall, and told her to do as she was told or something not very pleasant would happen to her girls. She answered back; a big mistake. His hand clenched and made a fist. He lifted his arm until it was in line with her face. Her eyes closed and she winced, knowing there would be pain any time soon. His knuckles met her face. She lifted a shaky hand to her nose and lowered it again; seeing her hand covered in blood. Janet panicked. Her breathing became faster; her palms sweaty; her heart racing so fast it was about to leave her chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Janet. It'll never happen again Janet, I promise" he crawled. She remained silent out of fear of saying or doing the wrong thing.

_X_

"What on earth has happened to you?" Gill asked, noticing the bruising on Janet's face and the cuts around her eye.

"Got a bit pissed last night, fell down the stairs" Janet lied, knowing Andy was watching.

"You be careful" Gill said, mothering her almost. As she walked away, Andy came closer, whispering in her ear;

"Good girl"


	2. Chapter 2

"**I've just had a phone call from the coroner; why wasn't I in his office at 11.30 this morning**?" Gill asked angrily, frustrated that her own officers had let her down. Janet was learning not to question Andy or answer him back, but she couldn't not; Gill would suspect something, and besides, Janet knew he was in the wrong.

"**You said tomorrow**" Janet stated.

"**I said today**" Andy replied, giving her a look that meant she was going to get another beating and she would have to take it. Janet felt sick to her stomach, but she had no choice, if she didn't go home with him, he would hurt her children.

_X_

The day was over and Gill had told the team to go home, there was nothing more to be done for that day. Janet felt another little part of her die inside. He waited on the other side of the office for her as she put on her coat. She tried making for the door, but he was all of a sudden next to her, having hold of her arm. '_Better luck next time'_ she thought.

That night was a repeat of the evening before. The punches were harder, in her ribs, her stomach and her face. He pulled her hair so hard, handfuls were missing. She was already on the floor, winded. He took the opportunity of her being down low and vulnerable to hurt her again, knowing she wouldn't be able to fight back. His big black boot went towards her head, knocking her backwards. Her head smashed on the floor, blood pouring instantly. His foot raised again, this time kicking her ribs, her stomach, over and over again.

Andy raced outside lighting a cigarette. Janet knew it was wiser not to try to run; she also knew she wasn't physically able to walk, let alone run. She scrambled to a sitting position, in more pain than she was in giving birth to her girls. Her phone was in her pocket; she figured someone might realise something was wrong if she were to ring them and then not speak, or hear Andy shouting if he came back in.

She dialled Gill's number, it was highest on her contacts list; she didn't have time to scroll down to her mother or Rachel. Andy entered the room at the moment and saw her trying to hide the mobile; she couldn't do anything quickly, the pain was too intense. He had a cigarette in his mouth; Janet didn't even know he smoked. He grabbed her phone and smashed it on the floor, stamping on it after. Janet let tears escape her eyes; this angered the chilling man even further.

He looked at the cigarette between his fingers. He stepped forward towards the quivering woman. The cigarette touched against her skin; the heat growing. He pressed it in, harder and harder; the pain mounting. At that point the lit end went out, ash dropping onto her arm, causing further burns.

Andy left her to cry in pain on the cold wooden floor.

_X_

Janet couldn't face work the next morning, but it was safer than being alone in his house. At least at work he couldn't hurt her, she just had to make sure she was never alone. She decided to be brave, and from who knows where, found the courage to walk into her office.

"What the bloody hell had happened Janet?" Gill asked, more concerned than she had ever been about anyone. "You need to get to hospital, now"

"No" Janet shouted, she couldn't. "I was mugged that's all". Gill took hold of Janet's arm, causing her to cry in pain. The burns began to weep through her sleeve. Janet couldn't explain further.

"That's not a mugging, Janet" Gill observed. "That is a viscous, brutal attack"

"Leave it" Janet warned, leaving the office.

Andy was waiting for her, watching her every movement, trying to lip read every word.

"What did you tell her?" he asked.

"Nothing, I said I was mugged, I didn't mention you alright?" she said sarcastically. "Not that she believes me"

"Make her" he snapped back. Gill walked out of her office and saw the tension between them. "Oh, Janet" Andy called and she was about to walk off, "Disclosure; that's what I want you to do", trying to make it look as though they were talking about work.

She didn't dare argue back, although she did not want to do filing, in a cupboard, for a whole investigation.

_X_

It had just gone nine-thirty and Janet was still in her cupboard. The majority of the team were out talking to witnesses, and the rest had booked off. A call came through and naturally, Janet went out to deal with it.

The next morning she paid for it.

"You should have told me, chain of command. You made me look like an idiot" Andy shot at her, for going out of the office to talk to a witness.

Their arguing continued back upstairs in the office. Gill had warned them both. Andy confessed about his past relationship breakdown and his own nervous breakdown, but still he took it out on her. He pulled the blinds to as Gill shut the door, leaving them to talk. Janet looked at Gill desperately, begging her through her eyes, not to leave her alone with him. He held his hand over her mouth so no one would hear her scream. He bit her neck. Kicked her shins. Told her she was going to die.

Janet ran out of the office, leaving Andy looking on. Gill tried to follow but he persuaded her to leave her alone.

She kept running, right out of the building. And running, and running, and running.


	3. Chapter 3

She found herself stood in the middle of a main road just outside Manchester. Her legs could not carry her any further. She didn't want to leave her girls behind, but she was no good to them as she was; and they would still have their gran and their dad.

Her life flashed before her eyes. Janet always thought this was very '_cliché_' when she heard people say it on television, but now, standing here, about to die, she relived every moment of the past forty-six years. Meeting Andy for the first time was something she would never forget; he was a different man back then, sweet, and kind, gentle. But then she met Aide. She knew from when she set eyes on him that he was the one; love at first sight. Her wedding day was magical; like a true princess meeting her prince. Then she had her girls; Elise and Taisie; she would do anything for them. Janet had some of the best friends that a girl could wish for; Gill, who she had known since training almost twenty years ago and Rachel who joined the MIT two years ago. Her job meant the world to her; she had been offered promotion to sergeant many times, but always declined. And then she started seeing Andy again, and it all went downhill.

Janet kept going over each little detail of her life as she turned in the direction the traffic was going. The road had been empty for some time. But Janet knew lorries used the by-pass all the time as a cut-through. And then there it was. A big lorry doing fifty miles per hour, thundering up behind her, beeping it's horn at her. She closed her eyes and froze to the spot.

The last thing she thought as she lay on the ground bleeding to death was '_it's over now'_…..


	4. Chapter 4

_**A BIG thank you to everyone who had read and reviewed and subscribed; I love reading your thoughts and comments; they always make me smile! I apologise to those of you who I have made cry in my stories; but as a writer, it's amazing that a few words on a page that I have written have conjured up such strong emotions in you! Xx**_

Gill left the briefing room in a hurry after receiving a phone call. Her team were worried; it wasn't like her to just abandon them when they were dealing with a murder investigation. Andy was left in charge to continue feeding back the information to the rest of his colleagues.

It didn't take Gill long to reach Oldham General and pulled into the first parking space she found. She ran up the stairs when the lift took too long to arrive and burst into intensive care.

"DCI Murray, I got a phone call about Janet Scott" she said politely to the receptionist. A doctor from behind the desk stepped forward and took her into the room to her friend.

"She's alive, barely, but she's been very luck" the doctor informed her.

"Lucky!" Gill repeated astonished, appalled "How did you work that out?"

"The speed and the size of the lorry should have killed her on impact, but she's still with us with only a few broken bones".

"Can I see her?" Gill asked meekly. The doctor showed her through.

Gill took a seat by Janet's bedside and held onto her hand. She talked to her on a low-level, unsure whether she could hear her or not, but she wanted to let her know she wasn't alone. her sobs loudened, her head falling onto Janet's middle. She felt a finger touch her face causing her to sit bolt upright.

"Janet!" Gill called, looking at her friend's weary face. "Don't say anything, its ok"

The nurse came in to check Janet over and remove any tubes that were no longer needed now that she was awake. Gill stepped outside to talk to the doctor, she had many questions to ask.

"Do you think she….tried to...it wasn't an accident was it?" Gill eventually managed to ask.

"No" the doctor replied bluntly. "You're the detective, but from the pre-existing internal and external injuries, it looks as though she has been being abused and tried to end it by committing suicide" he solved the case for her.

Gill couldn't bear hearing the reality she had pretending not to have noticed. She had seen the cuts and bruises for herself, but didn't question Janet's excuses any further. Gill had witnessed the atmosphere, the sniping, the digs and the sarcastic comments in the office between Janet and Andy, and more often than not, he caused it all. She didn't ever believe what Janet had told her, from the fact she was a police officer and had seen muggings before and never had there been so much damage, secondly, she liked to drink, and often ended up pissed, but never got cuts and bruises to that extent. She knew it was Andy; she just had to prove it.


	5. Chapter 5

Gill walked down the silent corridors of the hospital, deciding to go back to the office. As she walked past the room in which Janet lay, she realised she couldn't just go and leaver her, alone in a strange place. For a moment she stood in the doorway just watching Janet lying there. The injured woman turned her heavy, bruised head towards the door, meeting Gill's gaze. Gill smiled and went into the room, taking a seat beside the bed. Neither woman said anything for some time. It became awkward.

"Janet" Gill said eventually, breaking the silence. Janet turned to face Gill. "Has Andy been hurting you?" she blurted out.

"Please don't, Gill" Janet shook her head, giving Gill all the answers she needed.

"Don't worry, we'll get him. He will be so thoroughly investigated; he won't know what day it is. By the time he gets out, he'll be lucky to get a job sweeping the streets, if he's not ready to draw his pension" Gill snapped, angry at the thought of that man.

"I didn't know what else to do Gill" Janet became watery-eyed.

"Don't Janet, you don't have to explain, it's ok" Gill soothed.

"Where's the girls?" Janet began to panic.

"They're at school, it's only lunchtime. They don't know anything yet" Gill said calmly.

"Will you get them for me, I need my girls"

"Course I will; I'll flash my warrant card and bring them home early" Gill laughed.

"Thank you, Gill"

_X_

Gill went straight to the head master's office of Oldham Technology College, flashing her warrant card at every member of staff she came across.

"DCI Murray, MIT, I'm here about Taisie and Elise Scott" Gill said sternly.

"Ok, sit down. What's the problem?" the headmaster asked.

"Their mother, Janet; Detective Constable Janet Scott" Gill added "Has been the victim of domestic violence; so bad so that she tried to take her own life"

"Oh My God!" the headmaster cried "Is she…alright?"

"She's in intensive care, but she's awake and wants to see her girls. She sent me to tell them and bring them to her" Gill told him.

"Of course. Follow me, I'll take them from their classes"

Gill followed the tall dark man along the graffiti-ridden corridors of the school. She looked up and down the walls disapprovingly.

"Taisie Scott; collect your belongings please and come with me" the headmaster said, walking into her English lesson.

"Gill?" Taisie said, stepping outside of her classroom and seeing her mum's boss and friend standing there.

"Let's go and get your sister and then I will explain" Gill replied, continuing to walk.

They reached the next class; science.

"Elise Scott please" he said in the same tone, holding the door open. "Collect your things". Elise packed her bag up and saw her sister at the door. She looked worried. Not half as worried as she was when she saw Gill.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"My office" the headmaster told the girls.

_X_

"Sit down girls" Gill gestured to the seats in the office. "Right, your mum has been taken to hospital. She's in intensive care, but she is awake and asking to see you" Gill didn't divulge anything else; she didn't know how to.

"What happened?" Taisie asked.

"You know she had been seeing Andy?" Gill asked. The girls nodded. "Well, your mum tried to tell him it was over last week, but he wasn't taking no for an answer, so he was hurting her, to punish her. Your mum couldn't take another beating and she….well she tried to end it" Gill finally told them.

"She tried to kill herself?" Elise asked, shocked, she had always thought her mum was the strongest person she knew. Gill nodded in reply.

"That's why we've been staying at dad's then" Taisie worked out. "She didn't want us to know"

"Her face is quite badly pulped; don't be too shocked" Gill warned.

Taisie stood, grabbing her bag and walking to the door. "Come on, I want my mum" she spoke, like a little child.


	6. Chapter 6

_**This story has had to come to a conclusion because I didn't know where else to go with it and to be honest I was getting bored of writing it…but there is plenty more in the pipeline! X**_

Taisie sat by her mother's bedside holding her hand silently. After one look at the beaten woman lying in the bed, Elise couldn't cope and ran off, Janet shouting after her. Gill followed the girl, almost running down the corridors after her. Gill lost her for a while, but she eventually found her outside, sitting on the floor crying. Gill looked down disgusted at the fact she would have to get down onto the dirty, cold floor in her skirt. '_So unladylike'_ she thought snobbishly. But she did it anyway.

"You alright?" Gill asked. "Stupid question" she answered for the girl. Elise only cried harder. Gill lifted her right arm, signalling for Elise to move closer and cuddle into her, which she did straight away. Gill possessed an ability to never show emotion, so Elise took advantage of this rare opportunity. Gill's fine-boned arms held the teenage girl close to her, comforting and soothing her.

"She's going to be alright kid. It's just cuts and bruises and a broken arm; it will all heal, and you'll have your mum back in no time" Gill reassured.

"Promise?"

"I promise" Gill answered, hoping she wasn't wrong.

"I phoned Dad before, to tell him about mum"

"Hmmm" Gill replied, but the girl said nothing more. "What did he say?" Gill probed.

"That she deserved it for sleeping with Andy in the first place"

"Well you know that isn't true don't you, no one deserves that" Gill became angry at the thought, she could picture him, hear him saying it.

"I asked if me and Taisie could stay with him while mum's in here, but he said he doesn't want anything to do with any of us anymore, we'll just have to manage" she cried.

"If you don't have any objections, you can stay with me, both of you" Gill offered.

Elise sat up and looked into Gill's eyes. The girl smiled for the first time that day. "Really?" she asked.

"Course. Now come on, let's go and see your mum" Gill stood first and held out her hand to the girl. Elise took her hand and held it all the way back to Janet's room.

_X_

As they entered the room, Elise hesitated for a moment, but with Gill's hand still firmly wrapped around hers, she walked up to her mum with a smile, bending down slightly so her mum could kiss her cheek.

"Guess what mum" Elise said, a lot brighter than she had been half an hour ago.

"What's that?" Janet smiled; glad to have her girls back.

"We're going to stay with auntie Gill until you're better!"

"Oh are you now?" Janet asked her girls rhetorically. She looked to Gill. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am, I wouldn't have offered otherwise. I'm going to get the girls home now Jan, if that's ok with you?" Gill asked.

"Yeah, you do what she says girls" Janet smiled, looking towards her friend.

"I think there's someone outside to see you" Gill noticed Rachel hovering at the door. "We'll leave you to it and come and see you tomorrow"

"You'd better" Janet warned, pointing her finger at them.

_X_

Outside the door Rachel was a mess. She stood there shaking and babbling uncontrollably.

"She's ok, it's just cuts and bruises and a broken arm" Elise told Rachel, just as Gill had told her. Rachel nodded and sniffed back the tears, giving both girls a hug before they left. Gill rubbed Rachel's arm, knowing exactly how she felt. She wanted to break down and cry as well, but she had to be strong for everyone else. Gill did something she had never done before, and raised her arm, placing around Rachel's neck, pulling the taller woman down so she could hug her properly.

"Thank you Gill" she mouthed, unable to speak.

Rachel walked into the room just as everyone else had, slow and hesitant. But she eventually had the guts to walk up to Janet and rest her head on the pillow next to the blonde. She didn't speak, she just wanted Janet to know she was there.

_X_

As Gill's car approached her driveway, her phone rang. She passed it to Elise sitting next to her. Elise nodded and agreed and then put the phone down.

"Who was it?" Gill asked.

"Someone called Mr Rutterford?"

"The chief con?" Gill exclaimed; it was highly unusual that such a senior office would ring her mobile at home.

"He said they've arrested him, Andy and they want you to charge him" Elise replied.

"Ok girls, you go inside, make yourselves at home, I'll be back within the hour"

_X_

It was nearly all over, Andy was in custody and Janet on the mend. Gill walked into custody and stood beside the violent thug she once called her sergeant.

She read his rights, slowly and sharply, savouring every word. She twisted his arm up behind his back until he winced in pain, but she never eased off. She marched him back to his cell and threw him, his body falling to the floor. Gill was rather pleased with herself, she didn't know she had the physical strength.

"That's unethical" he told Gill smarmily.

"But is anyone really going to believe you?" Gill answered, laughing at the pathetic man lying there. "Rot in hell you bastard"


End file.
